Awards Entry, Scholarship Nomination Forms Available

Although you can still enter the old-fashioned way, by mailing in magazine pages and/or a paper entry form, for the first time this year you will be able to enter most categories completely online; doing so will save you $10 per entry. The electronic entry form isn't available yet, but should be in the next week or so; I'll update you when it is.Update, 1/11/08:The online entry form is now up and running. ASBPE is offering a free webinar to familiarize people with the new online entry process on Jan. 18 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. To sign up, email b2beditor@gmail.com.

The PDF awards brochure also includes a nomination blank for our Young Leaders Scholarship, which pays the registration fees and hotel costs for editors who are 30 or younger to attend ASBPE's National Editorial Conference -- which this year takes place July 24-25 in Kansas City. It's a great reward -- and a great learning experience -- for hard-working young editors on your staff. Update, 1/17/08: To download just the YLS application, without the contest entry form (much faster download), click here (file is a 600KB PDF).

With the deadline for entries in ASBPE's Azbee Awards of Excellence looming, it's a good time to start thinking about what you should enter.

On Dec. 14, ASBPE is hosting a webinar with two multiple-award winners, IDG's Don Tennant (vice president and editorial director of Computerworld and InfoWorld) and Hanley-Wood's Boyce Thompson. They'll talk about how the awards have affected them and their publications, why they chose the articles they entered, how to build award potential into the articles you write or edit, and how you can apply the standards of editorial competitions to your work on a daily basis.

Update, 2/15/08: The entry deadline has been changed to Feb. 22, 2008. Because of the volume of people using the online submission system today, many were receiving server error messages. Over the weekend we'll be moving the system to a new server, and we're extending the deadline to make sure all those who had trouble today are able to get their entries in.

Site for Learning Multimedia Skills

Trying to wrap your head around Search Engine Optimization? Not sure what keywords have to do with your writing? Then click over to CopyBlogger and set yourself a RSS feed.

I forget how I came across the site, but it's become one of my favorites lately. From posts like how to create a blog that people will want to Digg to how not to commit grammar errors that make you look dumb, the site has a lot of easy-to-digest information.

Hate Transcribing? Try This.

Say your publication is doing podcasts and you're responsible for editing the audio. Or maybe you just have a half hour or so of audio from an interview to transcribe. Here's a great tip from the just-launched ASBPE Cleveland blog about a service that will transcribe your audio from a computer file quickly, cheaply, and accurately.

Of course, using this service for interviews assumes that you are no longer using tape to record them.

About ASBPE

The American Society of Business
Publication Editors was founded in 1964 as the
professional association for full-time and freelance editors
and writers employed in the business, trade, and specialty
press.

Regular membership in ASBPE is
open to editors and writers who work for business, professional,
trade, and association/society publications, including
freelance writers.

Affiliate membership is open to any individual or supplier who offers products or services to regular members and/or their publishing organizations.